Give your design a personal touch. Think about adding some origami or note-folding to it!
I received a calendar of origami for Christmas this past year and it has been fun to fold a square sheet of paper into a little animal or complex geometric shape every day.
Passing Notes uses the nostalgia of passing notes to classmates to create their identity system. How could you use this idea to design a unique package or progressive advertising campaign for your next client (or even yourself!)?
Check out Note Folding origami at Perfect Now for some fun and different ways to fold up notes for friends. NoteFolds.com has some more, too.
Dollar bill folding is fun, too. I bet this could make a compelling campaign! How quickly would you open up something you thought was a dollar bill? Dollar Artist has some of the most awesome little dollar bill sculptures I have ever seen! There’s even a Wall-E! Learn how to fold similar dollar bill origami on the Moneygami blog (not every post shows you how to do a particular form, but there are free videos available if you want to learn how to actually do the moneygami).
Kevin Box takes origami several steps farther with his bronze origami sculptures!
If you need a break during the day, check out Toy Paper, and fold yourself up a cool origami monster.
Ok you geeks, you have to love the Star Wars origami. Hehe, this was so cool!
If you didn’t find something that catches your eye at any of the above sites, definitely stop Sy’s origami site. Almost any design you can think of under the sun (and it was just recently updated too!)
Paper-art Portfolios
There are quite a few impressive paper artists out there that do things other than folding paper.
Jen Stark says she was inspired to do her paper art by her sister’s medical books. You can keep up with Jen’s exhibitions and latest projects on her blog.
Peter Callesen has done some absolutely gorgeous paper sculptures. I can’t say I care much for his spiders though. Ick!
Richard Sweeney (famous for his Sliceforms and other crazy sculptures like the Icosahedron pictured above) has really expanded the amount of work he presents online with his Flickr account (definitely stop by for a look!).
Do any of these origami notes, critters or paper sculptures inspire you to design something unique? Have you already done something like this? Tell us about it!
I tried an origami design for a business card for one of our nurse recruiters. It was a flat card that could be folded into a little jumping frog, with a slogan along the lines of “put some spring into your career”.
He loved it, but upper management, saddled with MBAs and the obligatory humorectomies that accompany them, nixed it.
Sigh.
Warren’s last blog post..Whose Fault?
Even though I wouldn’t know where to start, I do enjoy origami. This reminds me of a portfolio piece on my own site, which I hope you don’t mind me referencing:
Tammy Lenski’s origami crane logo design
Tammy wanted an origami crane used for her logo as it holds a great message for her conflict management business.
David Airey’s last blog post..Using freelance graphic design contracts
Warren,
Something that I could connect to like your design would definitely give the company points and be more likely to get me to contact them.
Aww, well maybe you’ll just have to design something similar for a less corporate client. That busines card sounds so fun! “Interactive” doesn’t necessarily have to do with technology
David,
Yes! Now that you mention it I remember that logo and business card you did for Tammy. Thanks for linking to it! (you’re always welcome to share your work here, David, particularly if it ties into the topic!)
Thanks Lauren.
David Airey’s last blog post..Using freelance graphic design contracts
Michael LaFosse has a great set of free origami videos here: http://pem.org/origami/
Michaels’ origami site can be found here: http://www.origamido.com/
Doug C.’s last blog post..My 21 Favorite Photoshop Tips
Origami is so not for me… We had an exercise last semester to make some but I got a huge FAIL in that exercise… luckily it wasn’t marked because I really sucked at it.
Anyway, I am always amazed by what people can do with a simple piece of paper…
A guest author on JCD actually wrote a whole article dedicated just to paper… I really saw paper in a new light after reading it!
Jacob Cass’s last blog post..The Design Process Of Creating A $40,000 Creative Newspaper Advertisement
Ah I love origami.. The Toy Paper monsters are just gorgeous!
One lunch a workmate was just playing with a piece of paper and, what seemed like, out of no where, she just put down a little crane - I fell in love with origami at that moment and decided that one day I was going to do a huge origami project. Not sure what just yet, but something!
This story, makes the whole thing a little sweeter too
Hey Jacob, I’m glad you liked the article I guest posted for you enough to mention it here!
I really like origami. I don’t do it enough.
I can fold a paper crane, but after not doing it for a while I might need a refresher.
I watched a video just the other day about folding a gift box, which was pretty nice.
I’m going to go dig out my origami papers and see if I can still fold a crane!
Hi LaurenMarie, I’ve just stumbled across your blog via the Brian Yerkes site via CommentLuv!
I especially found the link to the Jen Stark website worth-while, there’s some really nice photos of pieces of paper art on there…kind of reminds me of some wax-resin art I saw in an art gallery I views a few years back.
The Dollar bill folding looks interesting, although here in the UK out notes are slightly thicker than US notes, so don’t know if I’ll ever attempt doing it
Andrew Kelsall’s last blog post..The Day in a life of a Graphic Designer
great informative post on dollar bill origami and some great blogs mentioned many thaks!
Ok so you got me with the star wars origami. Oragami Yoda = Awesome
David’s last blog post..Number 10 on Twitter
I love the moneygami stuff, notes design gives it nice patterns. Still, doesn’t get better than the paper cutted sculptures.
Mirko’s last blog post..Design links for the week
Doug,
Oh cool! Thanks for the link.
Jacob,
Ah well, can’t be good at everything I suppose! The tactile nature of this art is something I enjoy; much like letterpress. I love that article that Alex wrote! Finally, someone who might understand my obsession with paper!
Alex,
That is a very touching story about the cranes.
I remembered that article that you wrote for JCD, but it totally didn’t click in my little brain that it was YOU. I think that was before we started chatting about letterpress. Well hurray! I’ve found a kindred spirit who won’t think I’m nuts when I talk about how beautiful paper is
Kris,
I was never able to memorize how to fold any of the origami critters, except maybe the simple dog. Those bone folders that Kristina uses in her video are sooo helpful! For things other than origami (I have about half a dozen lying around at home and work). What a neat idea for a personal gift. Thanks for sharing!
Andrew,
(awwwww). Jen sure does have some astonishingly amazing paper art doesn’t she? I never get tired of looking at her stuff.
CommentLuv is a great plugin, isn’t it? Thanks for stopping by. You’ve got a nice little blog starting there! And too cute that your blog’s birthday is the same as your second little one
Grin,
You’re welcome!
David,
Woohoo! Finally someone says something about how totally (geekishly) awesome the SW origami is! Hehe
Mirko,
Did you check out the rest of Dollar Artist’s site? He has some crazy good stuff. Yeah, those sculptures from Jen, Peter and Richard are amazing. I wouldn’t have the brains or the patience to do those!
@LaurenMarie,
yeah…I have have an excuse to remember my little daughters birthday, but not my wifes ;).
Jens work is inspiring, I’d buy some for my wall if I had a bit of cash handy!
@Lauren
You know everyone else is thinking it too, they’re just not cool enough to admit it